Ethical issues to consider when career counselors use a career personality test

A career personality test can be financially alluring to career counselors because it offers another revenue stream in addition to their normal career counselors fee.

You would normally pay a career counselor for her time and then an additional fee for the involvement of some type of career counseling test.

The use of a career test therefore normally increases the total income gained from each client.

I am not suggesting a career counseling fee should have restrictions around it.
To the contrary, I believe that the important role we perform is often under rewarded financially.

However if our income extends to selling a career counseling test to a client that is not in their best interests, and where there are better alternatives available without the need for additional cost, then this raises some questions.

We may be helping people make a very important first career decision or providing transitional career change advice for those already working.

Clients quite rightly may feel wary and cheated if they realized that the service that they were receiving was compromised by the financial incentives received from a career personality test.

Everyone needs to make a living.
And there is nothing wrong with the process of selling such an assessment.
But the litmus test must always be , is it good for the client and what is the primary motive here ?.

If my primary motive for recommending a career counseling test is to increase my revenue, then my professional judgment has been compromised.

Furthermore, a career counselor will always do better financially if, in a relative sense, she forgets about the income generation of any career personality test and focuses only on what is best for the client.

This is how any business creates goodwill.
We should be willing to do what is best for a client even if the result may not be financially rewarding in the short term.
In the long term, that client's trust considerably increases in us when she realizes that we have her best interests at heart.

She is then more likely to come back and also tell family and friends about her experience.

Just yesterday I was listening to a gentleman who has built a very successful recruitment agency.

One of his foundations for success when starting out in business, was not to take any action unless it was beneficial long-term for the business.

He was faced with many situations where he could make some extra money in the short-term, but decided against it because it was detrimental to business growth in the long term.

If you are in the process of seeking help with professional career development, you have a right to ask questions around the financial incentives regarding any career counseling test being suggested.

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